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Iran’s Ambassador to Iraq, at MERI

“Collaboration between MERI and its Iranian counterparts is not only important to provide vision and deep understanding for decision-makers, but also to offer practical recommendations to solve complex issues facing us in the Middle East”, said Ambassador Hassan Danayeefar during his visit to the Middle East Research Institute on Wednesday, 4 May, 2016.

Mr Danayeefar is the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Iraq. His meeting with MERI’s President Prof. Dlawer Ala’Aldeen and other MERI research staff detailed the way policy-research institutes can contribute to nation-building and influence policies to bring about change in the governance system. The importance of engaging decision-makers, opinion-formers, intellectuals, and academics from Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the neighbouring countries was also emphasised.

Iranian-ambassadorviist

During his visit, the Ambassador was accompanied by diplomatic colleagues, including the Iranian Consul General Mr Murtaza Abbadi, as well as his political and cultural advisors. The advisors to the Iranian Ambassador highlighted the need to enhance the common cultural ties between Iraq and Kurdistan Region on the one hand and the Islamic Republic of Iran on the other, and reiterated the importance of implementing the Iraq Constitution to overcome the current instability in Iraq.

MERI staff briefed the Iranian delegation on research projects within MERI, highlighting a number of arenas that Iranian decision-makers could pursue to contribute to stability and rule-of-law in Iraq and Kurdistan Region. The two sides underlined the importance of mutual collaborations and engagements between MERI and research institutes in Iran to undertake research studies designed to enhance their in-depth understanding of, and recommend practical solutions to, the complex issues in the region as a whole.

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About MERI:  The Middle East Research Institute is Iraq’s leading policy-research institute and think tank. It is an independent, entirely grant-funded not-for-profit organisation, based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region.  Its mission is to contribute to the process of nation-building, state-building and democratisation via engagement, research, analysis and policy debates.

MERI’s main objectives include promoting and developing human rights, good governance, the rule of law and social and economic prosperity. MERI conduct high impact, high quality research (including purpose-based field work) and has published extensively in areas of: human rights, government reform, international politics, national security, ISIS, refugees, IDPs, minority rights (Christians, Yezidis, Turkmen, Shabaks, Sabi mandeans), Baghdad-Erbil relations, Hashd Al-Shabi, Peshmarga, violence against women, civil society. MERI engages policy- and decision-makers, the civil society and general public via publication, focused group discussions and conferences (MERI Forum).

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